PSY100 CHAPTER TWO AND THREE

What are the five steps of the scientific method?

1. Observing some phenomenon
2. Formulating hypotheses and predictions
3. Testing through empirical research
4. Drawing conclusions
5. Evaluating the theory

What are examples of phenomena?

- Current events, such as Facebook and the #MeToo movement
- Social issues, like schoolyard bullying or online dating
- Personal experiences, such as arguments with a spouse or feeling homesick after being away from family for the first time

What develops out of observing a phenomenon? Explain what the word means.

A theory. A theory broad idea or set of closely related ideas that attempts to explain observations and to make predictions about future observations.

What is a hypothesis?

An educated guess that derives logically from a theory and previous research findings; a prediction that can be tested.

What can come out of theories?

Many hypotheses. The more hypotheses proven to be correct, the more credibility the theory gains.

What is a prediction?

A statement about the specific expectation for the outcome of a study.

What is the empirical method?

Gaining knowledge through the observation of events, the collection of data, and logical reasoning. (research based on actual observation or experiment)

What is a variable?

Anything that can change. It can VARY.

What is an operational definition?

A definition that provides an objective description of how a variable is going to be measured and observed in a particular study. People have different definitions of things. for ex. your group is told to measure kind behaviours, but what exactly ARE kind behaviours? ALSO there can be more than one operational definition.

What is a key aspect of the process of testing hypotheses?

Data analysis

What is data?

All the information (all those numbers) researchers collect in a study.

What does data analysis mean?

“Crunching” those numbers mathematically to find out whether they support predictions.

What do scientists draw as a result of data analyses?

Conclusions

What happens after a psychologist writes articles presenting their research findings?

The articles are submitted for publication in scientific journals where they undergo rigorous review by other scientists who evaluate the work for its scientific merit. If the research is judged to be of sufficiently high quality, the paper is published for all to see and read.

What is a key step after a study has been publish?

Replication.

What does it mean to replicate a study?

Repeating it and getting the same results.

Why do we replicate studies?

Scientific conclusions rely on showing that the results remain the same,
regardless of the specific scientist who conducts the study or the specific group of people who were studied.

What are the two types of replication?

Direct replication and conceptual replication.

What does direct replication mean?

Doing the study precisely as it was conducted in its original form (employs the very same methods as the original study).

What does conceptual replication mean?

Doing the study with different methods or different types of samples (different methods to test the same prediction.)

What's an example of conceptual replication?

For instance, a researcher might want to know if a particular strategy to enhance social skills works not only for college students but for older adults. If a research finding is shown again and again—that is, if it is replicated—across different researchers and different specific methods—it is considered reliable. It is a result on which we can depend.

What is meta-analysis?

A statistical procedure that summarizes a large body of evidence, usually consisting of many studies of many participants, from the research literature on a particular topic, allowing the researcher to assess the strength of the relationship between the variables. Ex. the study about procrastination

Are meta-analytic results stronger than single study results? Why or why not?

Because they combine many findings in the literature.

What are the two research designs used to gather data to help understand a phenomenon?

Descriptive methods and experimental research.

What are descriptive methods?

It involves learning the basic dimensions of a variable (for ex. the average level of happiness in Canada) and the strength and direction of the relationships between the variables (such as whether spending time in nature can cause an increase in children

What is anecdotal evidence?

Evidence based on PERSONAL observation

Is anecdotal evidence reliable?

No, you can believe anxiety helps with performance because it "works with YOU", but testing doesn't show that

What is a good theoretical framework?

Fruitful, you can generate a lot of questions from it

Is a theory ever finished?

NO, you're supposed to keep asking questions and replicating it (Newton's Law then Einstein's law then quantum physics)

What do you want your experiment to be affected by?

Only what YOU want it to be affected by, not outside factors that are out of your control / you're not aware of (like the pretty female subject and the other two male test subjects)

What's required for a replication and why do you need it?

It has to be the exact same way it was tested before EXCEPT for just different population, research time, and place. To verify if the theory is actually true and not a fluke.

Does every study have a bias sample?

Yes, the only way to be UNBIAS to get every human being's name and make a list and randomly choose from that.

What question do you ask yourself when making a sample?

Does the sample I am sampling accurately represent the population I am experimenting with?

What is generalizing?

Using a sample THAT HAS TO BE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE POPULATION to experiment or come to a conclusion on your theory

Does naturalistic observation have high external validity?

Yes

What is external validity?

The degree to which a finding generalizes from the specific sample and context of a study to some larger population and broader settings (i.e. the extent to which your findings accurately describe what happens in the real world/generalizability with respect to other people, places, and situations)

What is ecological validity?

The degree to which a study finding has been obtained under conditions that are typical for what happens in everyday life

Are surveys good sources of information?

Yes, but they are extremely vulnerable to corruption, misuse and mistake

How are surveys prone to corruption?

You can edit them or cater them to get a specific answer. Ex. the donald trump question or the car one

What are descriptive methods?

Descriptive methods are just to DESCRIBE, it describes basic dimensions of SOME variable and the STRENGTH and DIRECTION of the relationship between variables

What is descriptive research?

Research that determines the basic dimensions of a phenomenon—defining what it is, how often it occurs, how one thing varies with another, and so on.

What is descriptive research used for?

To identify problems, mainly by determining the frequency of a variable. It isn't supposed to find the cause of the relationship, but just to describe what's going on to help give further information and support or defer theories by formulating hypotheses

What are some examples of descriptive research methods?

naturalistic observation, archival research, physical trace research, surveys and interviews, case studies, correlational research, and longitudinal designs

What is the problem with descriptive research methods?

They CANNOT tell us about causation

What is a correlation?

A relationship or association between two variables; when one goes up the other goes up. When x goes up, y goes up.

Can you correlational research infer causality?

NO

What is correlational research?

Research used to determine if there's a relationship between two variables

What two problems exist with trying to make causal inferences from correlational studies? Describe and give an example of each problem.

1) directionality problem: you often don't know if variable A is causing variable B to change or if variable B is causing variable A to change, or if there is mutual interaction. E.g., self-esteem and GPA are strongly positively correlated, but you don't know if self-esteem causes you to get good marks or if getting good marks causes you to have high self-esteem, etc...
2) the third variable confound: a confound is a variable that is not controlled for, that may be affecting the relationship between two variables, e.g., IQ affects the relationship between both self-esteem and GPA. If you have a high IQ you're more likely to have high self-esteem and get good grades

Correlation does not allow you to infer _____

causation

What's the most powerful tool for determining causal relationships?

Experimental research

What is the independent variable?

What you change (the cause or the experimental variable)

What is the dependent variable?

What you measure (the effect)

Why do you use the average of the controlled and experimental group when measuring results?

Because there are always going to be outliers

What's random assignment?

ensures that every participant has an equal chance of being
assigned to any of the conditions

What is statistical anomaly?

When random assignment does not distribute pre-existing differences evenly

Whats the most important thing when conducting experiments?

Random assignment

Why do we replicate?

Just in case, it was a fluke

What is sampling bias?

When the sample isn't representative of the population

What does random assignment minimize?

The chance that a pre-existing difference between groups is the cause of the “experimental effect”

What are the types of biases in research?

Sampling bias
Placebo effects
Social desirability bias
Response sets
Experimenter bias:
- double-blind procedure

What is social desirability bias?

Social desirable
Wanting to be desirable . We say and do what we believe will be accepted by others rather than what we actually feel or think.

What are response sets?

Set of responses
Whatever happened before it happened can affect what happens next. Ex. If you get 3 Cs while filling out a test, you are going to want to change the answer for the next question. If you didn't fill out Cs before that question, you would've been more likely to answer C. If you see 100 people answer no to a question, the likelihood of you saying no SKYROCKETS. But if you didn't see how anyone answered BEFORE, you wouldn't be persuaded to say no.

What is experimental bias?

You cheat whether you realize it or not, your unconscious wants the best for you. It doesn't know right from wrong. SOO a machine does it Ex. you don't want to know the people in the experiment because you'll be more inclined to be bias. Your research assistant doesn't know it's YOUR theory so they don't mess up results

What is the double blind procedure and how do we use it?

This procedure ensures that neither the participant's desire to "help out" the experimenter or the experimenter's unconscious bias will have any effect on the results of the study, as both the participant and the person running the study are "blind" to thepredictions or hypotheses.

What is archival research?

The study of the remnants that remain following some activity.

What is physical trace research?

The study of the remnants that remain following some activity.

What is ESM (experience sampling method)?

To assess people in their natural settings

What is cross-sectional design?

A type of correlational study in which variables are measured at a single point in time.

What is a longitudinal design?

A special kind of systematic observation, used by correlational researchers, involves obtaining measures of the variables of interest over time.

How are the designs different?

Cross-sectional only measure once at a time

What can descriptive research do?

Describe how things are, but not explain why they are that way

What is an experiment?

A carefully regulated procedure in which the researcher manipulates one or more variables that are believed to influence some other variable.

What's the difference between an experiment and correlational research?

An experiment changes one of the variables in an controlled setting to see if one causes the other, correlational just observes if both variables have a relationship

What is a confederate?

A person who is given a role to play in an experiment so that the social context can be manipulated. ex. how people react to people they care about giving them sad news

What are quasi-experimental design?

Quasi means "almost" or "as if", it is only used when using random assignment would be unethical or impossible. It can never truly determine STRONG causal relationships.

What are some examples of a quasi-experimental design?

1. When natural disasters occur
2. When man-made disasters occur
3. When it is unethical to manipulate the variable of interest
4. When it is impractical to manipulate the variable of interest

What is valdiity?

The soundness of the conclusions a research draws from an experiment. Just because it's reliable (through replication), doesn't mean it's sound

What is internal validity?

The degree to which changes in the dependent variable are due to the manipulation of the independent variable.

What is a demand characteristic?

Any aspect of a study that communicates to the participants how the experimenter wants them to behave.

What is research participant bias?

In an experiment, the influence of participants’ expectations, and of their thoughts on how they should behave, on their behaviour.

What is the placebo effect?

A phenomenon in which the expectation of the participants, rather than actual treatment, produces an outcome.

What is convergent evidence?

Research findings collected from several different types of research methods, and samples from different populations.

Explain the order of studiess

Descriptive methods might give scientists a hypothesis for what they think and then experimental will reject or confirm that WITH identifying if it's causal or not then descriptive will confirm if they findings relate to the real world

Are random sampling and random assignment the same thing?

No, random assignment is more about giving an equal chance for the control and experimental group and random sampling is giving everyone in the population an equal chance of being sampled

What is a convenience sample?

A sample of participants selected from those participants who are readily available.

How do psychologist analyze data?

They use statistics; descriptive and inferential

What are descriptive statistics?

Mathematical procedures that are used to describe and summarize sets of data in a meaningful way.

What is the measure of central tendency?

A single number that indicates an overall characteristic of a set of data

What is the mean?

A measure of central tendency that is the average for a sample.

What is the median?

A measure of central tendency that is the middle score in a sample after ranked from lowest to highest

What is the mode?

A measure of central tendency that is the most common score in a sample.

What is a measure of dispersion?

It is to tell you the difference between the scores

What is the common measure of dispersion and what does it mean?

Range; A measure of dispersion that is the difference between the highest and lowest scores. Subtract the lowest from the highest score.

What is standard deviation?

A measure of dispersion that indicates how much the scores in a sample differ from the mean in the sample.

What are inferential statistics?

Mathematical methods that are used to indicate whether the data sufficiently support a research hypothesis.

What is statistical significance?

That the difference between groups and conditions are not attributed to chance

What are 4 things researchers should address

Consent
Confidentiality
Debriefing
Deception

What should you think when consuming media?

1. Have I overgeneralized?
2. Have I distinguished between group and individual results?
3. Have I looked for answers beyond a single study?
4. Have I avoided attributing causes where none have been found?
5. Have I considered the source of the psychological information?

What is plasticity?

The brain’s special physical capacity for change.

What are mirror neurons?

Nerve cells in the brain that are activated (in human and nonhuman primates) both when an action is performed and when the organism observes the action being performed by another.